White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Yum! This White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Dough Cheesecake is the featured dish for January. The Butcher Shop in West Little Rock is our featured restaurant for the month.

If this is your first time making cheesecake, do question your culinary skills. NWAFoodie Lyndi Fultz gave this recipe a go for her first time and we think it turned out quite well. Click here to learn about her experience and see if there are any tips to make you the lead cheesecake maker in your community.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees if using a convection oven, or 300 degrees if using a gas oven. Cook time is approximately one hour.

To make cutting the final product easier, The Butcher Shop freezes the cheesecake. It helps them yield these symmetrical slices.

CRUST
1. In a food processor ground the graham crackers and sugar until fine
2. Chop the butter into small cubes and add to mixture
3. Add the vanilla
4. After the mixture is blended, pour into a well-oiled 10” springform pan and pat down until evenly formed

CHEESECAKE BATTER
1. Chop the cream cheese into cubes and put into food processor
2. Add the eggs, 3 cups powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of vanilla. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour the mixture into the springform pan
4. Roll the cookie dough into bite-size balls the size of milk balls and place into the cheesecake mixture in a 3-ring pattern, leaving space between rings.
5. After the cookie dough is added, pat down the mixture so the cookie dough is fully covered. The Butcher Shop places their springform pans into 10” silicone pans for even cooking, but parchment paper surrounded by tinfoil works well. They also use 10” inch silicone rings. Rotate the cheesecake after 30 minutes for even cooking and check for cracks. However, if you do see cracking when using this recipe, don’t worry. The topping you create will cover those cracks.
6. After you remove the cheesecake from the oven, make sure it is firm. Let cool for 1 hour, but it is very important that you do not put it in the refrigerator to cool.

TOPPING
1. Chop 3/4 pounds of cream cheese and put into the food processor
2. Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp. vanilla and 1 stick melted butter. Blend until smooth. It always helps in this part of the process to stop and stir the mixture a couple of times.
3. After the cheesecake has cooled, spread the topping evenly
4. Serve. To get even portions when serving a large amount, The Butcher Shop freezes the cheesecake to make cutting easier.